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Hamilton returns from Texas on a hot streak

Hamilton returns from Texas on a hot streak

7/31/13: Josh Hamilton tattoos a solo home run to center field, putting the Angels on the board and knotting the score at 1 in the seventh

By Alden Gonzalez
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MLB.com |

ANAHEIM -- The just-completed three-game series at Rangers Ballpark saw the Angels suffer three losses via walk-off home runs -- but it might not have been a total loss.

Josh Hamilton quietly got going at the plate again.

"No better place to do it, too," he said with a wry smile, in acknowledgment of a setting in which he's still booed loudly for departing to the division-rival Angels this offseason.

Hamilton isn't about to get overly excited about a successful three-game stretch. He's had plenty of these throughout the year, only to struggle again and continue what has been a nightmare first season with the Angels.

But he went 5-for-11 in the three-game set, drawing three walks, hitting a homer -- his 16th of the year and first against his former team -- and driving in seven runs, putting his slash line at .226/.283/.418.

"It's a starting point," Hamilton said. "When you take a game through the next day, and how you feel in the game the day before to the next game and start putting those at-bats together, it's a good feeling."

The last three games were good enough to put Hamilton in the No. 3 spot for only the second time this season on Thursday, with Mike Trout back to hitting second against Blue Jays right-hander Josh Johnson.

"The biggest thing is just trusting," Hamilton said. "When you're struggling sometimes, you try to create a little bit too much. Just understand that the guys throw hard -- 94 to 96 mph -- and you don't have to do much extra, especially being a lefty. Just try to put a barrel on it, hit it back up the middle or the other way."